June 6
1800s *1892 - Benjamin Harrison became the first U.S. President to attend a major league game as he watched the Cincinnati Reds defeat the hometown Washington Senators in 11 innings, 6–5. 1900 1910s *1913 - The New York Yankees were defeated for the thirteenth consecutive time in the 2–1 to the Cleveland Naps. *1918 - Casey Stengel, after being traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the offseason, made his return to Ebbets Field a memorable one. In his first at-bat, Stengel called time, stepped out of the batter's box and doffed his cap. A bird flew out and the fans broke into laughter. 1920s *1920 - The St. Louis Cardinals played their last game at Robison Field (renamed Cardinal Field in 1917), their home field since 1893, beating the Chicago Cubs 5–2. One of new owner Sam Breadon's first decisions was to agree to a ten-year lease for $20,000 annually allowing his team to move six blocks to share Sportsman's Park with the St. Louis Browns, and then using the money from selling the aging ballpark to finance Branch Rickey's idea of establishing a farm system by investing in a club affiliation with a minor league team in Houston, Texas. *1921 - Bill Gatewood of the Detroit Stars pitched the first no-hitter in Negro League history, defeating the Cuban Stars 4–0. *1925 - Eddie Collins off the Chicago White Sox became the sixth major leaguer to collect 3,000 hits after hitting a double off Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson. 1930s *1934 - Myril Hoag hit a major league record six singles in the New York Yankees' 15-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox. *1939: **The New York Giants hit five home runs in the fourth inning to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 17–3, at the Polo Grounds. With two out, Harry Danning, Al Demaree, Burgess Whitehead, Manny Salvo and Jo-Jo Moore connected as the Giants scored eight runs in the inning. **Bert and George Bebble and Carl Stotz formed the Little League organization in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The three youth teams in the league had uniforms thanks to a $35 donation. 1940s *1941 - The New York Giants became the first team to wear protective headgear as they used plastic helmets in a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh won the doubleheader, 5–4 and 4–3. In the nightcap, Pirates Rip Sewell set an National League record by totaling 11 assists for a pitcher. *1944 - All major league games were canceled as the country's focus is turned toward Europe while allied forces invade occupied France. *1948: **For the second time that season the Boston Red Sox hit three consecutive home runs. Stan Spence, Vern Stephens and Ted Williams belted their homers in one inning, becoming the first team to accomplish this feat twice in the same season. **Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Charlie Bicknell gave up four home runs to Erv Dusak, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter and Nippy Jones in the sixth inning of a 11–1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. 1950s *1958 - Ozzie Virgil, acquired from the New York Giants in January, became the first black player to appear in a Detroit Tigers game. The versatile Dominican will eventually play every position but pitcher during his nine major league career. 1960s *1965 - Switch-hitter Tom Tresh connected for three consecutive home runs in the New York Yankees 12–0 rout of the Chicago White Sox. Tresh hit his first homer right-handed off Juan Pizarro in the first inning, then went to the other side of the plate and hit two against Bruce Howard in the third and fifth innings. 1970s *1971 - Willie Mays hit a 12th-inning home run off Joe Hoerner of the Philadelphia Phillies, his 22nd — and last — career extra-inning homer, a major-league mark. *1975 - Nolan Ryan's bid for a second no-hitter in a row was foiled by Hank Aaron's single in the sixth inning. Ryan gave up one other hit in overpowering the Milwaukee Brewers 6–0. *1976 - After a storm dropped seven inches of rain causing floods in Houston, Texas, twenty fans canoed to the Astrodome to get rain checks for the canceled game at the enclosed stadium. 1980s *1983 - The Minnesota Twins selected pitcher Tim Belcher with the first pick in the annual June free-agent draft, but Belcher will reject their $125,000 signing bonus offer and pitch for Team USA in the Pan American Games instead. Belcher will be the first person selected in the January 1984 draft. The Cincinnati Reds selected infielder Kurt Stillwell with the second pick and pitcher Roger Clemens was taken with 19th pick by the Boston Red Sox. *1986 - San Diego Padres manager Steve Boros was ejected before the first pitch of the game with the Atlanta Braves when he tried to give umpire Charlie Williams a videotape of a disputed play in the previous night's 4–2 loss to Atlanta. 1990s *1990: **For the second time that season, Cecil Fielder hit three home runs in a game, as Detroit beat the Indians 6–4. Fielder became the fourth American League player to have two three-homer games in a season. **Stump Merrill replaced Bucky Dent as Yankees manager. *1991 - Cleveland Indians outfielder Albert Belle was demoted to the minors for not running out a ground ball in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox. *1992 - At Pittsburgh, Eddie Murray of the Mets collected his 1,510 run batted in to pass Mickey Mantle as the all-time RBI leader among major league switch-hitters. *1993 - Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles suffered a twisted right knee when his spikes catched in the infield grass in contest against the Seattle Mariners. The resulting swollen knee the next day almost ended his consecutive streak at Game 1,790. 1995 - J.D. Drew of Florida State hit a record-setting three home runs in his final three at-bats in a 16–11 loss to Southern California in the College World Series. Drew finished 3-for-5 with five RBI and 12 total bases, also a series record. *1996 - For only the second time in major league history and first in the American League, a cycle and a triple play took place in the same game. John Valentin of the Boston Red Sox hit for the cycle, while the Chicago White Sox turned a triple play in Boston 7–4 victory. In 1931, Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies outfielder hit for the cycle in the same game that Philadelphia turned a triple play against the Chicago Cubs. *1997 - At Fenway Park, Sandy Alomar of the Cleveland Indians hit four doubles in one game, tying a major league record. *1998 - Jason Lane's grand slam capped a five-run ninth inning as Southern California won its first NCAA title in 20 years, beating Pac-10 rival Arizona State, 21–14, in the College World Series. 2000s *2000 - The Rally Monkey was born, thanks to the Anaheim Angels' video crew playing a clip from the 1994 film Ace Ventura, Pet Detective on the JumboTron. With the words Rally Monkey superimposed over a monkey jumping up and down in the Jim Carrey movie, the crowd went wild as the Angels scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the San Francisco Giants, 6–5. *2002 - The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission agreed to drop its lawsuit against the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball. The deal settled a lawsuit blocking baseball's contraction plan and removing the Twins from consideration for elimination for the 2003 season. *2003: **Insisting the corked bat, designed to put on home run displays during batting practice, was accidentally used in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa was suspended for eight games by MLB. Bob Watson, baseball's vice president of on-field operations, agreed that the Cubs outfielder's use of an illegal bat was an "isolated incident," but one that still deserved a penalty. **In interleague play, the New York Mets ended the Seattle Mariners 13-game road winning streak with a 3–2 victory in the first meeting between the teams. It was the longest streak in the majors since the Detroit Tigers 17 straight road wins in 1984. *2005 - Infielder Plácido Polanco was sent by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for reliever Ugueth Urbina and utility infielder Ramón Martínez. Urbina, a two-time All-Star as a closer, will become the setup man for Billy Wagner in Philadelphia and Polanco will become the starting second baseman in Detroit. Births *1849 - Jim Devlin, pitcher (d. 1883) *1864 - Ed McKean, infielder (d. 1919) *1871 - Bill Lange, outfielder (d. 1950) *1902 - Fresco Thompson, infielder (d. 1968) *1907 - Bill Dickey, Hall of Fame player and manager (d. 1993) *1943 - Merv Rettenmund, outfielder *1944 - Bud Harrelson, player and manager *1953 - Dave Bergman, infielder *1957 - Max Venable, outfielder *1964 - Edgar Cáceres, infielder *1972 - Tony Graffanino, infielder *1972 - Brooks Kieschnick, pitcher/outfielder *1977 - Mark Ellis, infielder *1978 - Jaime Bubela, outfielder *1979 - Jeremy Affeldt, pitcher *1980 - Matt Belisle, pitcher Deaths *1904 - Chippy McGarr, infielder (b. 1863) *1989 - Whitey Glazner, pitcher (b. 1893)